Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F3/00—Biological treatment of water, waste water, or sewage
  • C02F3/32—Biological treatment of water, waste water, or sewage characterised by the animals or plants used, e.g. algae
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
  • Y02W10/00—Technologies for wastewater treatment
  • Y02W10/30—Wastewater or sewage treatment systems using renewable energies
  • Y02W10/37—Wastewater or sewage treatment systems using renewable energies using solar energy

Definitions

• micro-organisms also referred to as 'microbial organisms'
• 'microbial organisms' i.e. metric tons.
• Two important questions in the research into growing such large volumes of micro-organisms were firstly, whether it was possible to use algae as a biological component in the treatment procedures of waste-streams and secondly, whether it was sensible to use cultured micro-organisms as a feedstock to generate new products, such as renewable bio-fuels. It has been conclusively demonstrated, both theoretically and practically, that growing micro-organisms, such as algae, has the potential to both efficiently treat waste-streams (e.g. waste-water) at large scales and produce sufficiently large quantities of feedstock for new products, such as renewable bio- fuels.
• waste-streams e.g. waste-water
• the major challenge remains to find an efficient and economical process for the production of microorganism, in particular algae and biomass in general.
• Primary requisite to this challenge is the optimized inoculation and production including the harvesting of these micro-organisms.
• the present invention meets the above challenge by using the so-called complex adaptive system (CAS) approach and translating the CAS principle into a practical workable engineered open and continuous system thereby creating a simulation of a natural environment (habitat) for growing micro-organisms.
• the natural microbial communities are allowed to dynamically adapt to a changing simulated environment.
• the communities composition changes autonomously and accordingly communities adapt themselves to the changing simulating environmental conditions.
• the autonomous adaptation and local interaction results in self- organization of the communities.
• an optimal habitat is created by the present invention to which natural and diverse microbial communities can autonomously react and adapt resulting in an optimized production of biomass.
• the present invention using the natural and divers communities allows for a more stable habitat, in turn resulting in an improved biomass production.
• the process of the present invention allows different communities to be created at different positions within the process resulting in a modular continuous production of microorganism.
• an optimal habitat is simulated to which natural microbial communities can autonomously react and adapt. Those micro-organisms best suited to the environmental conditions in the growth recipient will thrive.
• the process of the present invention employs diverse natural communities as a result of which the production of micro-organisms becomes more stable (e.g. in terms of biomass production).
• the present invention creates a simulation of a natural environment (habitat) and then allows the organisms themselves to choose where and how to grow and thus adapt as communities to this simulated natural environment.
• micro-organisms which at a given time fail to colonize a certain position within the system are carried further downstream where they may encounter a suitable colonization-site or may eventually even be discarded as being superfluous.
• the present invention and its process configuration including system configuration allows for different communities to exist simultaneously at various positions within the total process of the present invention.
• the process of the present invention is directed to an open and continuous system whereas at present micro-algal culturing processes hitherto consist of closed circulatory batch systems (e.g. photo-bioreactors, high rate algal ponds).
• closed circulatory batch systems e.g. photo-bioreactors, high rate algal ponds.
• the water -stream treatment system of the present invention is open to the surrounding environment through its continuously maintained water stream.
• the interface between micro-organisms and nutrients in the water is continuously renewed while at the same time avoiding the necessity of reseeding the system after harvesting.
• the process of the present invention employs artificial substrata positioned in the flow of the waste- stream forcing the stream through or near the artificial substrata and the microbial communities attached to them which increases the surface of interaction between growth medium (waste) and the microbial communities.
• the present invention allows a changing simulated environment (e.g. seasonality, nutrient-composition) whereby the natural microbial communities are allowed to dynamically adapt to the changing environment.
• a changing simulated environment e.g. seasonality, nutrient-composition
• the micro-organism are introduced into the growth medium, whereas , in the present invention the growth medium is brought to and passed over and across the microbial communities and the nutrient-rich water or waste-stream is continuously renewed at the position where the micro-organisms grow.
• the harvesting procedure is greatly facilitated by introducing artificial substrata onto which the attached micro-organisms grow.
• the microorganisms can be easily and efficiently separated from their growth medium (i.e. water such as waste-stream).
• the present invention is directed to the growth of micro organism and to the improved production of biomass whereby attached microbial communities are grown in a continuous water stream in a controlled and directed fashion.
• the process of the present invention employs artificial substrata preferably positioned transversal in the flow of the water stream forcing the stream through or near the artificial substrata and the microbial communities attached to them which increases the surface of interaction between growth medium (waste) and the microbial communities resulting in an optimize habitat for the communities to grow.
• the present invention is directed to the production of the biomass whereby attached microbial communities are grown in a continuous water stream in a controlled and directed fashion.
• microbial communities that naturally occur in water including a waste-stream are grown.
• the water- stream is waste-water
• all organisms which occur in aquatic systems (natural or man-made) can in principle be observed in the biomass that is being cultured.
• the microbial communities that are cultured in this invention are natural, diverse and heterogeneous communities with all the natural dynamics of a wild microbial community.
• this invention differs from those technologies where carefully selected strains of organisms are cultured, either in mono-culture or poly-culture.
• a simulated complex adaptive (CAS) system is created in a modular continuous manner.
• a community acting as a CAS has the abilities to autonomously adapt to changing environmental conditions. These environmental changes include, but are not limited to, changes in temperature, stream velocity, concentrations of various compounds, light intensity and periodicity, seasonal changes,...
• Adaptation of communities is a seemingly directed response by a community to any environmental change. This response may result in, but is not limited to, alteration of the community structure in terms of dominance, diversity, productivity, overall chemical composition,...
• the response of the community is the result of the compounded demographic changes (e.g.
• the chemical composition of the waste-stream is altered by these microbial communities. This happens because the microbial communities deplete certain compounds in the water which are therefore of a lower concentration further downstream. Consequently, the environmental conditions are different at the consecutive spatial positions along the trajectory of the waste-stream.
• microbial communities are CAS 's, the microbial communities that grow at each spatial position will be those that are best adapted to the specific environmental conditions of that particular spatial position.
• the locally adapted microbial community has become dynamically self-organized. Therefore, microbial communities may differ at various spatial positions in various aspects e.g. diversity, dominance,...
• the distance between two spatial positions at which one microbial community differs from the next is not fixed but variable. It can in fact be different for each pair of spatial positions.
• the difference between microbial communities between spatial positions does not necessarily involve the same configuration of variables and/or parameters. For instance, between communities A and B the difference could be 'diversity', while between communities B and C it could be 'productivity' reflecting the modular continuous production of micro organism in accordance of the present invention.
• the second important aspect where the biological principle of CAS is effectively simulated in accordance with the present invention entails the continuous selection of the microbial organisms entering and colonizing the artificial substrata of the present invention.
• all microbial organisms that naturally occur within a region can be observed in the cultured biomass.
• All organisms that occur in natural microbial communities have some form of dispersal through which they can reach new habitats that are suitable for colonization. If upon arrival a habitat appears suitable it will be successfully colonized by that organism. Therefore, any habitat, comparable to some extent to a theoretical optimal habitat, will be continuously bombarded by 'colonization particles' further referred to as inocula.
• inocula could take the form of seeds, spores, cysts, clumps of cells, ... and can arrive actively on their own strength (e.g. flying insects) or passively by means of a vector (e.g. air, wind, water, attached to animals, ).
• a vector e.g. air, wind, water, attached to animals, .
• the continuous new arrival of potential colonizers with the waste-stream allows microbial communities to regularly 'recruit' new organisms and incorporate them into the microbial community in order to be better adapted to the given environmental conditions.
• Local interactions between community components are essential in the self-organization of the adapting community.
• additional organisms can be recruited into the community while others are lost from the community. Consequently, the microbial communities grown on the artificial substrata are continuously in contact with the regional communities through various complex processes bourn by the waste-stream. Some examples of such processes (but not limited to) are dispersal, colonization, recruitment and extinction.
• the adaptation of the microbial communities occurs within the process of the present invention and the process is continuous and is not a temporally or spatially separated procedure or process.
• the microbial communities grown within the process of the present invention are recruited from regionally occurring microbial communities.
• a number of additional environmental variables are controlled in this invention.
• These additional variables are carefully controlled and adjusted for the purpose of actively governing various properties of the microbial communities (e.g. physical, chemical, productivity, composition). For instance, by adjusting light the composition and dominance of the algal groups can be altered.
• Typical variables are, but not limited to, temperature, light spectrum, stream velocity and volume, nutrient and trace-element concentration, dissolved gasses: oxygen, carbon-dioxide, etc. (see fig. 21).
• a biomass is grown or cultured which consists predominantly of micro-organisms.
• micro-organisms are all organisms, both single-celled and multi- cellular organisms, of which the largest dimension is smaller than 2 mm.
• natural microbial communities typically harbor many organisms of which the size dimensions clearly exceed the 2 mm criteria, e.g. filamentous algae, nematodes. Therefore and for the purpose of this invention we explicitly state that the term 'microbial communities' is understood to include all larger organisms that naturally occur in or around these communities. This includes but is not limited to for instance filamentous algae, nematode worms, crustaceans, insects etc.
• the biomass grown in accordance with the present invention comprises microbial communities in general and of certain groups of micro-organisms in particular.
• the determination of a 'group' can be based on a taxonomical, ecological or any other functional classification.
• One possible preferred example of a biomass produced by this invention is a biomass consisting of attached microbial communities and dominated by the algal group Bacillariophyta or 'diatoms'.
• a water stream such as a waste-stream is any collection of chemical compounds present in a continuous stream.
• the stream can be in either a liquid and gaseous phase.
• the compounds can be used as essential growing nutrients by the microbial communities or can be secondarily immobilized by them, physical of chemical, either intra-cellular or in the matrix of microbial communities. Therefore, it is to be understood that for example a waste-stream is a liquid or gaseous stream of growth medium for microbial communities. At any given spatial position in the invention this stream of growth medium continuously replenishes the nutrients required for growth or the compounds to be immobilized.
• the growth of the biomass is directed in such a way that only attached microbial communities grow within the process of the present invention.
• These microbial communities are attached to and grown in and on artificial substrata, preferably volumetric spaced artificial substrata which simulate the natural substratum to which these communities naturally attach (e.g. sand-grains, plants, rocks,).
• artificial substrata have a maximal attachment surface for a given volume by being fractal or fractal-like in shape and form without becoming so dissimilar from the natural substratum that the microbial communities no longer attach to them.
• the substratum is placed within the stream, in such a way that the water flows over, across and through the substrata allowing for a transversal configuration of the system.
• the key problem of traditionally used substrata is that as biomass accrues on the substrata the system gets clogged and the flow is stopped, even up to a stage where the water passage is completely blocked.
• the flow in the process of the present invention is maintained because the fractal like nature of our substrata allows for the biomass to accrue on parts of the substrata whereas there are also wider openings that allow the flow to continue towards the next parts of the substrata.
• An example of execution is a carrier which holds a series of screens which form the substratum.
• These screens are perforated in a fractal patterns (the so called Serpienski Gasket).
• Serpienski Gasket This patterns divides a triangle in 4 equal triangle. The central triangle is open, while the 3 outer are again perforated in the Serpienski pattern. This is repeated infinitesimally in theory.
• the biomass will start to settle in the smallest perforated zones which will clog up gradually, later the larger perforated zones will clog, but there will always be a central opening which will allow the water flow to continue.
• the surface will be clogged to a certain degree and there will be a drag on the screen caused by the flow. This drag can be measured by a device and can be used as an indicator for the ideal moment of harvesting.
• the carrier with substrata is then extracted by the extractor.
• This configuration of internal fractal patterning allows transversal positioning of the carriers with substrata. Fractal patterning other then on a triangular surface can equally be selected eg. square, hexagon etc. As in well understood in the art, the fractal patterns and forms can be exhibited on the outside (external) of a surface (eg. Koch Curve). Another configuration would be that the fractal patterning is distributed not on one single screen (or in one plane) but is continued over a number of sequential screens. This would in principle be a '3 D fractaloid' or volumetric, whereas the above patterning on one screen is considered '2 D fractaloid' or planar. From the figures the detailed fractal nature of the substrata and the transversal positioning which forces the water to flow through and across is further illustrated by a non-limiting example.
• these artificial substrata are positioned in a waste-stream in such a manner that the waste-stream must pass through or close by the artificial substrata and consequently through or close by the microbial communities attached to these.
• the flow of the waste-stream is carefully controlled and governed.
• the method of the present invention also comprises means for harvesting the microbial communities.
• Preferred harvesting the microbial communities comprise first of extracting the artificial substrata from the waste-stream by means of an extracting device.
• the present invention is also directed to such an extraction device to be used to extract the carriers holding the substrata said substrata attached to carriers, which aid in the fractal configuration of the system. This may be done either by taking hold of the artificial substratum directly or by taking hold of a carrier on which the artificial substrata were mounted before insertion into the waste-stream.
• the artificial substrata may be mounted on the carriers while the latter are already inserted into the waste-stream.
• the extracting device brings the artificial substrata to a harvesting device.
• the attached microbial communities are subsequently separated from the artificial substrata in a harvesting device.
• the separated microbial communities are concentrated using gravitation as primary principle. It is possible but not necessary to add an extra treatment phase between extraction of the artificial substrata and the separation of the biomass from the artificial substrata.
• This treatment e.g. immersion in a treatment-fluid
• This is intended to increase the concentration of certain chemical compounds in the biomass (e.g. oil concentration). This is referred to as a two-step harvesting procedure.
• the present invention first extracts carriers with substrata, which results in transversal removing biomass, and then removing biomass from substrata can in fact use scraping or suchlike.
• harvesting is monitored by judicious removal of particular sets of carriers with substrata from the stream whereby inadvertent over-harvesting is reduced.
• Attached micro-algae are grown on brushes placed in a continuous stream of domestic wastewater derived from a traditional waste-water treatment facility. As the waste-water passes through the brushes, the growing algae actively decrease the concentration of e.g. nitrates and phosphates in the waste-water. Harvesting the algae is done in a washing machine in which the algae are sprayed from the brushes by water-jets. After separation from the brushes the algae will settle (i.e. gravity) on the bottom of the washing machine and can be taken from there for further processing.
• the intermediate step of a two-step harvesting procedure could for example entail immersing the brushes in a nutrient poor growth medium. Process description of one possible embodiment
• Effluent water is derived from any water purification system consisting of a primary or secondary treatment phase.
• the effluent water could be derived from domestic, industrial and agricultural waste-water. In an ideal situation this effluent water is fully in compliance with the required environmental standards in the region of operation, as it is normally discharged into the waterways. At worst this invention may even operate with untreated water coming directly from the pollution source.
• the waste-water is subsequently treated in the process of the present invention.
• the treatment in the invention should be referred to as 'a ternary water treatment phase'.
• the waste-water is pumped through a system of circulation, consisting of one or more recipients.
• the recipients are hereafter termed 'growth recipients', they can take any form or shape and can be open, closed or partly closed to the air and they can be open, closed or partly open to natural or man-made waterways. They can be either deep or shallow, depending on the circumstances and requirements.
• One simple example of their shape would be runways, comparable to what is commonly used in High Rate Algal Pond systems.
• the water is pumped directly from the effluent channel which comes from the previous secondary treatment phase, and into the additional circulatory system for the ternary treatment, by means of standard commercially available centrifugal or peristaltic pumps.
• This ternary system may be attached or independent from the former treatment phases from which it is transported. After the water has been pumped through the system it is discharged back either into the said effluent channel or directly into the waterways.
• the ternary treatment of the waste-water comprises employing the waste-water within the ternary circulatory system as growth medium for communities of attached micro-organisms. In one embodiment these could comprise of a predominantly algal biomass.
• the waste-water may be used with or without the extra addition of chemical compounds (e.g. trace-elements), or the waste-water may or may not be additionally modified or pretreated by other means (e.g. UV irradiation, microwaves, ultra-filtration).
• the treated waste-water will have been deprived of a part of the nutrient load (nitrate, phosphate, silicate), and other compounds, as a result of the biomass growth. This will enable the owner of the water purification plant to meet the required environmental standards even better e.g. lower nutrient or toxins loading of the water.
• a part of the microbial communities comprise of algae, which are photosynthesizing organisms and are to be considered vegetal. Growth of vegetal biomass is referred to as primary production.
• Primary production is the natural process through which the incident energy of the sun is converted into biomass by the process of photosynthesis. For this process basic building blocks, or nutrients, are required by the organisms, these are the nutrients which are present in growth medium, in this case waste-water.
• the ternary treatment discussed here comprise of growing micro-organisms within a continuous water flow.
• the waste-water is the transport-medium which brings the necessary nutrients to the micro-organisms.
• By simply growing (i.e. multiplying) these micro-organisms take up the nutrients in the waste-water and thus deplete the concentrations of these nutrients in the waste-water.
• the water is stripped of excess nutrients.
• the microbial communities can fix or breakdown potentially hazardous compounds, either intra-cellular or in the matrix of the microbial communities.
• the process of primary production also releases substantial amounts of oxygen, augmenting the concentration of oxygen in the water column. This is beneficial for all aquatic organisms that depend on respiration for their survival (e.g. fish) and is an important parameter that is commonly measured to determine water quality (e.g. Chemical Oxygen Demand COD, Biological Oxygen Demand BOD).
• the continuous wastewater stream is run across and through the artificial substrata which are simulacra's of the natural substrata where the biomass of micro-organisms grows under natural conditions (i.e. as can be found in for instance the rivers and channels of the region).
• the artificial substrata may be placed directly in the growth recipients or can be attached to some sort of carrier which is then placed in the growth recipients.
• the artificial substrata are placed in such a way that the waste-water stream must go through and/or very close near them. Consequently, the waste-water comes in very close contact with the microbial communities which grow on the artificial substrata.
• the key issue here is maximizing the interaction interface between the growth medium and the microbial communities.
• the artificial substrata are placed in the circulatory system in such a way that they cannot be dislodged by the water current.
• the artificial substrata can be made of PVC, poly-carbonate, glass or natural organic material (e.g. horse hair). Any other material suitable for micro-organisms may be used as well.
• the artificial substrata are fractal or fractal-like (or fractaloid) in shape and form.
• Artificial substrata considered here can have a basis of one-, two- or three-dimensions in nature with an additional fractaloid dimension which may be zero (1,0; 2,0; 3,0) or larger than zero and smaller than 1.
• the main purpose is to maximize the available surface for attachment of micro-organisms within a given spatial volume while at the same time optimizing the flow through of the stream.
• the artificial substrata would be fully transparent, allowing for the photo- synthetically active radiation (PAR) to reach all positions up, around or in the substrata where photosynthesizing organisms would thrive.
• PAR photo- synthetically active radiation
• the artificial substrata can be placed, removed and exchanged from the growth recipients of the circulatory system by an extracting device.
• This extracting device can be operated either manually, semi-automatically or fully automatically.
• the artificial substrata can be removed by either taking hold of them directly or by taking hold of the carrier to which they are attached.
• the growth recipients have ridges along which a transportation device with a gripping, hooking or other attachment device may move in order to collect, place or exchange the artificial substrata from the recipients.
• the retrieval device moves independently from and across the growth recipients and can either suspended from superstructure or move directly on the floor (e.g. a wheeled structure).
• the microbial biomass grown on the artificial substrata is predominantly made up of micro-organisms that naturally occur in the aquatic systems of the region. These could for instance comprise of algae from the natural freshwater running or standing waters from the region.
• the directed growth of the microbial communities in this invention results in communities of microorganisms that grow attached on the artificial substrata. These attached microbial communities can be further fine-tuned by governing various essential variables leading to continuous modular production of micro organism. If for instance it would be desired to create a dominance of a certain group of attached algae (e.g.
• Xanthophyta in the microbial communities then this could be achieved by changing the settings of a number of essential variables such as, but not limited to, temperature, water velocity and light periodicity. This could be done for various purposes such as, but not limited to, changing community composition, diversity, productivity or chemical composition.
• Another example could be the directed removal of certain groups of organisms that are detrimental to the directed culturing of microbial communities of a desired composition. For instance, adjusting certain variables can result in adverse conditions for certain groups of grazers which consume the desired micro-organisms. Consequently, and as a result of the principle of CAS, the microbial community will exhibit diminished populations of these grazers.
• the microbial communities are separated from the artificial substrata.
• the artificial substrata can then be recycled, with or without additional pretreatment before re-use.
• the separated microbial communities are primarily concentrated in the harvesting device by settling (i.e. gravitational forces) to the bottom where, if so desired, a collection recipient could be provided.
• the residual washing water, or super-natans can be discarded by decanting, draining or any other means.
• the harvested microbial communities are taken from the harvesting machine and can then be further processed according to the desired end-product.
• a first end-product generated by this invention is the process of water- purification.
• the harvested microbial biomass is further processed depending on the desired additional end-products. It could either be sold as dry product in powder, tablet or other form (comparable to present 'Spirulina' market products) or in liquid form.
• commercially interesting products may be extracted from the biomass which can then be marketed.
• the algae present in the microbial biomass are rich in poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of the omega 3 type (e.g. EPA, DHA). These products will be extracted and sold as food supplement.
• the algae may be also rich in pigments, such as astaxanthine, which could also be extracted and sold as food (human, animal), food-supplement,food adititives, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics .
• the targeted markets are both human food supplements and animal fodder both aquatic and terrestrial. Oil extracted from micro-algae is to be considered vegetal and is therefore an acceptable source for omega 3 oil for vegetarian diets. Other commercially interesting products may also be extracted and sold.
• the microbial biomass can be used as an important source of renewable energy.
• the microbial biomass can be converted through standard techniques into electricity or biogas. It could also be converted into liquid oil (or bio-oil) through for instance the process of pyrolysis or thermo-chemical conversion. Oil can also be extracted from the biomass.
• This type of oil is commonly known as PPO: pure plant oil or PsPO, Pseudo Plant Oil. We may refer to it as algal oil.
• the algal oil can be treated and converted into bio-fuel including bio-diesel, bio-gas and bio-ethanol. For instance this could be done through the process of trans-esterification.
• Other applications of biomass can be envisaged such as biomass fertilizers or raw material feedstock for chemical processing end products alternative for petrochemical products.
• Figure 1 Continuous flow of growth medium through growth recipient.
• Influent water source which serves as growth medium for the microorganisms e.g. waste-water.
• T time zero, temporal starting point of a de novo startup of the invention or of a newly inserted artificial substratum (9).
• T 1 time one, first temporal point of harvesting the micro-organisms grown on the artificial substrata (9).
• Artificial substrata are any substrate, wholly or partially submerged in the growth medium, on which the micro-organisms are attached and proliferate.
• the artificial substrata as such are detachable from the growth recipients, either as a whole or by means of a 'carrier device' on which the substrata are fixed (e.g. a metal frame).
• the growth recipient Any recipient through which the growth medium flows and in which the micro-organisms grow.
• Figure 2 Inoculation of artificial substrata by natural and diverse communities of micro-organisms.
• Figure 3 Regulation of environmental variables in order to modulate the composition of the community of micro-organisms.
• Every point N is considered the spatial position where the community of micro-organisms substantially differs from the communities at point N-I and point N+l in regard of previously identified variables. These may be but are not limited to: species composition, diversity, dominance or concentration of chemical components. The physical distance between two spatial point defined as above may be different for each pair of positions.
• Figure 5 Illustrating the process of intergrading communities and the application of feedbacks, shortcuts and fast exits in response to changing conditions and/or demands.
• Position N Any given position in the flow of water within the growth recipient, starting with spatial position 1 (17).
• N+6 Community of micro-organisms at spatial position N+6 differing in at least one relevant variable from the communities at spatial position N+5 and
• N+l l . 36 Community of micro-organisms at spatial position N+l l differing in at least one relevant variable from the communities at spatial position N+9.
• Figure 6 Drawing illustrating the extraction of the artificial substrata.
• Extracting device The artificial substratum is extracted from the growth recipient by means of an extracting device.
• the extraction device extracts the artificial substratum either by taking hold of the carrier upon which the artificial substratum is attached or by taking hold of the artificial substratum directly.
• Replacing device A replacing device brings a new artificial substratum. It is understood that this replacing device could be the same as the extracting device, but it could also be an individual device. Both devices may be features of a single machine, but not necessarily so.
• the replacing device inserts the artificial substrata in the growth recipient without stopping the continuous water flow.
• the carrier with the artificial substratum is transported to and placed in the treatment recipient (49). This transportation needs to occur timely, i.e. before any detrimental processes occur as a result of extracting the biomass from its growth medium.
• the carrier is submerged in another liquid medium which may or may not differ from the growth medium from which it was extracted (e.g. chemical composition).
• the treatment medium is not necessarily a flowing liquid or an open system.
• Treatment recipient In this recipient, that could be similar or different from a growth recipient, the biomass is treated for a shorter or longer period, typically hours to days.
• the carrier with the biomass still attached to the artificial substratum is extracted by the extraction device (42).
• the carrier with the artificial substratum is transported to and placed in the harvesting device (52). This transportation needs to occur timely, i.e. before any detrimental processes occur as a result of extracting the biomass from its growth medium.
• the harvesting device separates the biomass of micro-organisms from the artificial substratum, see also (48).
• Figure 7 Detailed scheme of separation of microbial communities from artificial substrata
• the artificial carrier is inserted into the harvesting device.
• the harvesting liquid can be discharged
• the harvesting liquid can be recycled, for instance in the harvesting device.
• the artificial carrier is extracted from the harvesting machine. This can be done by the extraction device.
• the artificial carrier is either rejected or returned to the growth recipients.
• 65 The separated biomass is extracted from the harvesting machine after settling.
• Figure 8 One possible embodiment of the invention. Purifying waste-water from pisciculture facilities and recycling both the purified water and the grown biomass in the pisciculture.
• 70 Using effluent as secondary treatment fluid.
• 71 Using effluent to grow fish in pisci-culture facility 78: Using effluent as harvesting liquid.
• 72 Pisci-culture facility.
• Waste-water is discharged from pisci-culture facility.
• Pisci-culture waste-water is collected in used as influent for the invention.
• Figure 9 One possible embodiment of the invention. Ternary treatment by microbial communities of the effluent from waste-water treatment facilities for domestic sewage.
• Multi-layered cascade structure through which the waste-water can flow from top to bottom.
• the layers are formed by the artificial substrata.
• Figure 13 Detail drawing of connecting pipeline system.
• Figure 14 Detail drawing of connecting pipeline system.
• Figure 15 Prototype with cascading growth recipients making use of gravity to move the wastewater stream.
• the artificial substrata are positioned in the flow of waste-water within the broad growth recipients.
• Figure 16 This drawing schematically depicts the important role of the main stream of wastewater, the currents and under-currents and turbulence in guiding the water through or close-by the artificial substrata in the growth recipient.
• FIG 17 An example of one embodiment illustrating the modularity and the application of the CAS mechanisms.
• Each system itself may comprise of one or more of a subsystem for example in parallel configuration.
• Resulting specific community A with targeted properties 83: Resulting specific community B with targeted properties 84: Resulting specific community C with targeted properties 85: Position A, at which local interactions are operational resulting in self- organisation. 86: Position B, at which local interactions are operational resulting in self- organisation.
• FIG. 1 An example of one embodiment illustrating the modularity and the application of the CAS mechanisms. This embodiment differs from to above in that a number of artificial substrata are placed in one system, while a next set of different artificial substrata are positioned in a next system, positioned downstream of the former.
• Position B at which local interactions are operational resulting in self- organisation. Positions A and B are situated within one single system. The consist of two sets of artificial substrata within one single system.
• Position C consists of a series of adjacently positioned artificial substrata in one system. At position C local interactions are operational resulting in self-organisation.
• Figure 21 Example of controlled algal growth of wild polycultures modulated through selected essential environmental parameters within a system. These communities comprise of a preferred group of organisms (e.g. Bacillariophyta) species composition (e.g. Fragilaria capucina)

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• 2007
  • 2007-03-15 AP AP2008004619A patent/AP2008004619A0/xx unknown
  • 2007-03-15 WO PCT/EP2007/002290 patent/WO2007104564A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2007-03-15 EP EP20070723277 patent/EP2001806A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2007-03-15 ZA ZA200807853A patent/ZA200807853B/xx unknown
  • 2007-03-15 EA EA200801919A patent/EA013693B1/ru not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2007-03-15 JP JP2008558723A patent/JP2009529341A/ja active Pending
  • 2007-03-15 AU AU2007224666A patent/AU2007224666A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2007-03-15 CN CNA2007800171465A patent/CN101443281A/zh active Pending
  • 2007-03-15 BR BRPI0708859-0A patent/BRPI0708859A2/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2008
  • 2008-09-15 TN TNP2008000353A patent/TNSN08353A1/en unknown
  • 2008-09-15 US US12/210,835 patent/US20090162920A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2008-10-13 MA MA31285A patent/MA30379B1/fr unknown
  • 2008-10-14 CO CO08109493A patent/CO6140050A2/es unknown
• 2010
  • 2010-02-03 US US12/699,086 patent/US20100136676A1/en not_active Abandoned

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